One night, Masha from Masha Plans posted a simple tracker for her own skincare routine to Pinterest. She was just documenting her own bullet journal designs, but when another creator shared the tracker and gave Masha credit, it went viral.
"Overnight, I went from 3,000 to 12,000 people," she says.
Going viral can be a game changer for any online business, but it only works if you've laid the foundation first. Masha had spent years showing up consistently, creating things she needed for herself, and paying attention to what resonated with her readers. So when that traffic boost hit, she was ready with freebies and great products that she knew her new followers would love.
This is the story of how Masha:
- Turned a creative outlet into a business by solving her own problems first
- Grew an audience with free blog content and a free resource library
- Had one unexpected moment go viral, and turned that into real, lasting growth
- Built her entire course, printable, and bundle catalog on Podia
If you're looking to turn your creativity into a business like Masha did, you can start your 30-day free trial of Podia today.
Turning a creative outlet into an online business idea
Masha had always liked the idea of planning. She loved stationery, the ritual of buying a fresh notebook, and that feeling of new possibilities that comes with getting organized.
The problem was, it never actually worked for her.
"I love planning, but I could never really stick to it," she says. Rigid planners with the same layout every week just created pressure. If she missed one page, the whole thing felt ruined.
Bullet journaling solved that. Because every page is built from scratch, there was no format to fall behind on.
"It fit my life perfectly," she says. "With bullet journaling, I felt like it kind of gave me a point and a direction to move in terms of my creativity."
But the bullet journal community came with its own kind of pressure. Masha found herself falling into the trap of comparing her pages to everyone else's.
"You see these picture-perfect layouts that look like a museum painting, and you're like, oh my god, what am I doing with my life," she remembers.
She experimented with long, elaborate page layouts like other bullet journal creators were making, but that didn't last long. "I did so much that I ran out of pages in three months, and then my binding just broke in the entire journal. I was like, okay, maybe I need something different."
That was the moment the business idea actually clicked. If existing bullet journal resources weren't working for her, there might be other people who feel the same way. So she thought, "Why not just create the resource that I want for myself?"
From free resources to a real business
Masha started small, building up her blog and creating designs that she wanted to use for her own bullet journaling practice. But it took Masha some time to feel comfortable promoting her work because she wanted everything to be perfect.
In the first year, she remembers thinking, "The design was not perfect; it was not pretty enough. I felt like it had to be perfect before I could actually present it to the world."
But rather than getting stuck, Masha kept building, adding new free content to her blog and sharing her designs on Instagram and Pinterest.
Masha also created free resources to bring people into her business. She made free courses to help people get started with bullet journaling, and a resource library of free bullet journaling printables that eventually grew to more than 50 designs.
Masha still has that library today, and looking back on her early designs, she can see how much she's grown as a designer.
"It's so embarrassing, looking back. I cannot believe I put some of those online," she laughs. But people wanted those early, imperfect printables anyway, and that was proof the idea had potential.
Her first paid product grew directly out of that free library. After seeing which free designs were the most popular, she was able to create paid printables around those same themes. She also made online courses around different bullet journaling topics, and bundles so customers could get more value for their money.
Today, she offers a mix of printables, courses, stickers, and doodling tutorials, with monthly live sessions added into the mix too.
"It's like a full ecosystem," Masha says.
All this groundwork meant that when another creator's shoutout led to her overnight viral moment, Masha was ready to meet the wave of new customers with resources she knew they would love.
How Masha uses Podia
When she built her first online course, Masha looked at what online course platforms everyone else in the bullet journal space was using.
"Back then, Teachable was the main alternative, and everyone was on Teachable, but as a user, I just didn't like the platform," she says. "I thought there must be a different way of doing it, and that's how I found Podia. I think I've been with Podia since 2020."
Today, Masha uses Podia to sell her digital downloads, product bundles, and online courses.
"I host all my video courses on Podia. I host my ebooks there too," she says.
Her favorite part is how little friction there is in setting things up. "It's very easy to use, and it's convenient to set up once," she says. "You have the sales landing page, and then it's very easy to create discount codes. It works well for promotions and my sales funnels."
Masha’s advice for creators just starting out
After years of building and watching her own style evolve over time, Masha's advice for new creators is simple: stop waiting for perfect.
"Don't wait for things to be perfect, just put it out there," she says. "Done is better than perfect."
It's easier to follow this advice when you understand why people buy from one creator over another. The core information in most niches is available everywhere, Masha points out. What people come back for is your personality.
"The basic information is all the same. It's all about how it's delivered, and what is highlighted, and the little special things that you add just because it's you, and that they cannot find anywhere else."
That's why she's not worried about her earliest, less-than-perfect printables being out there next to her current work. People who found her early stuck around because they liked how she showed up, not because everything was polished.
"You start as you are, and then you grow together with your business, and together with your audience," she says. "You don't need to wait until you become a master of a certain skill to start."
If you're ready to turn your creative ideas into a full business of your own just like Masha, start your free trial of Podia today.
Masha Plans is a bullet journal blogger and Podia creator who helps people build planning systems that fit real life. You can learn more about her work on her website and on her Podia shop.
